You and Me
by 8belles
Summary: Bucky Barnes receives a serious wound in combat for the Diviner (Agents of Shield). Avengers 2:Age of Ultron and Civil War HINTS... ok more than hints (of my own imagination). No slash. (T. Stark too.)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N… Occasionally I am cruel and like to beat up characters for the heck of it. I thoroughly enjoy tragic drama (like Loki's "death scene" in Thor:DW for example). This is one of those times. I imagine this a time after CAWS without the "reuniting drama" of post CAWS but with the warmth of Steve and Buck's WWII days. **

You and Me

The battlefield smoldered in small fires and wispy clouds of smoke mixed with fog. A gentle snow began to fall in the chill late season air. Debris littered as far as the eye could see. Hulks of vehicles both military and civilian lay strewn like a child's carelessly discarded toys. The stench of burning diesel, oil and sulfur hung in the air and clogged his nose. Moans of wounded were everywhere as if the field was haunted with the undead ghosts of the injured.

Steve staggered through the wreckage, his head ringing from the blasts of bombs that the vibranium shield didn't block, a gash above his right eye dripping crimson into his view. Steam clouded from his exhalations. He knew his ribs were bruised or broken and his left leg wasn't 100% either. Who knew where Natasha, Sam or even Stark were now? It didn't matter, anyway. There was only one man he was searching for in this pit of despair: James Barnes.

Last he saw Bucky, they were together behind an overturned city bus under heavy fire from an enemy bunker in front of them. Sitting on the ground, pressing their backs to the icy metal, large caliber bullets blew through the steel like hot knives in butter. Steve looked at Bucky with a worried expression, nervously gripping the handle of his shield tighter.

"Why the frown, Cap? Lost your plan? This is just like old times." Bucky smiled easily but his eyes suggested he was just as terrified. His metal fingers flexed agitatedly over the barrel of his favorite rifle.

"No. Just scared." Rogers replied honestly as ordinance exploded nearby and threw dirt at them. Both men flinched as the hard dirt and concrete fragments clattered over their bodies. Cap's shield deflected most of it.

"Scared? This ain't a haunted house at Coney Island when we were kids, Steve. This is war. What do you have to be scared of?" Bucky chuckled at him, trying to bring some humor to a very dark hour. The Avengers were scattered.

"Losing you. Again." Rogers replied solemnly, his blue eyes dark with uneasiness.

"Aww, c'mon Rogers. Don't get all sappy on me now." Bucky responded with tightness in his voice, grasping the forearm of his best friend, "Together now, right?"

"Together." A faint smile touched Steve's lips as he admired his buddy always trying to cheer a bad situation into something less ominous. Just like when they were kids, Bucky ever being the 'grown up' wiping away tears and bandaging skinned knees.

Standing up, breath condensing in the cool air in rapid white puffs, each man moved to opposite ends of the bus. Bucky positioned his rifle at his shoulder and shouted, "I got you. GO!"

Steve looked at Bucky for a second then dashed into the fray, Barnes's shots finding targets all the way just like old times. Cap's shield ricocheting like a lethal Frisbee, he made it to the bunker and dropped in a grenade. Vaulting off the roof before the explosion, he saw Barnes under fire from the right flank, pushing him back to less secure cover. "Bucky!" Rogers bellowed as flakes drifted down from heaven onto the battle. Swirls of smoke blocked his view. James couldn't hear him but kept retreating back between wreckage as the enemy pressed forward, trying to shoot him down.

A bomb whistled in from overhead and Cap instinctively crouched behind his shield. The ground suddenly liquefied beneath him then violently threw him up and backwards. Lying on the ground, staring at the grey-clouded sky, he didn't know where he was. A deafening silence encompassed his mind with throbs of pain through his body. Flakes landed gently on his nose like the kisses of angels and a cold wind chafed his cheeks.

Who knows how long he lay like that on the rubble. All he knew now, and not well from his addled brain, was that the field fell quiet and Bucky needed to be found.

The bus they had sheltered behind came into view and he followed the last direction he saw James retreating. Rubble, dropped weapons and other refuse from battle were strewn across the ground. There, Steve saw, was something he recognized! Barnes's rifle, dropped carelessly as if he was running away. Kneeling, he saw blood around the weapon, a large stain that lead away from the area. Cap's stomach turned to knots and knives of ice as the flakes became more intense. Soon that blood trail would be covered by snow and invisible.

Trying to shake the head trauma off, he pushed forward to keep on that trail. The dove grey clouds filtered the waning late fall sunlight like a soft cottony haze. Stumbling, breath coming in ragged gasps of steam, Rogers pressed on, ignoring his own injuries, but it was getting harder to do. "Bucky!" he called in a haggard voice into the calm afternoon air, "Bucky!"

Silence greeted him.

The trail led on, sometimes stopping and then changing direction. Every time it stopped, a larger pool of reddish black blood appeared. Steve didn't want to think about what that meant or how much time was left before the inevitable. Rodgers trailed the stream into the shambles of a building. It had that a gaping hole blasted through its wall. Stepping carefully into the building, the light streamed from behind him gently like church windows. Flakes of snow swirled tenderly around as if they were silver winged faeries in a children's story.

The faint glint of a metal arm caught Steve's eye as the rest of his vision grew accustomed to the gloom. James lay face down, folded over an overturned couch of what was once a law office.

"James!" Steve inhaled, throwing down his shield and lunging to the side of his fallen friend. Feeling at Bucky's neck, there was a faint pulse. Steve exhaled a cloud of steam not realizing he had been holding his breath in fear.

Bucky mumbled and groaned almost too quietly to hear what he was trying to say.

"James, Bucky… hang on. Let me see." Cap said as bravely as he could, while grasping Barnes' torso to roll him back off the couch and face up on the floor. Steve's ribs ground against each other painfully as he gnashed his teeth against the agony within, while turning Bucky over. James inhaled a sharp breath of agony, his blue eyes flying open wildly, hands reflexively moving to defend himself. "Whoa, Bucky. It's just me." Steve said quickly through a clenched jaw of anguish seeing his friend so injured.

Rogers lay Bucky down on the floor tenderly, cushioning his head with a pillow from the couch. The cold suddenly seemed sharper and more pervasive in the space. Cap could see the pool of blood from Bucky on the back of the couch now and the floor. Barnes looked at him through half lidded eyes, that same self-sure smile he always wore on his pallid face.

"Took you long… enough." Bucky whispered, his breath a thin stream of condensation. His face was pale as snow, eyes not as bright. Trickles of blood clung to the corners of his lips as he tried to smile wider. He was almost too anemic to do it and panted for breath instead. Roger's soul began to bleed.

"What…?" Steve choked out but then changed his thoughts, "Never mind. Let me see." Kneeling, Cap moved Bucky's limp arms away from his torso and he cut open James's battle suit with a knife. Two large oozing bullet wounds marred the surface of Barnes's abdominals just below his ribs. Steve's eyes widened in terror; these were not minor wounds. "Buck, I… I gotta see if they all came through." Steve admitted softly, knowing James was watching him carefully. Rolling Bucky onto his side, Rogers heard the growls of pain James held back through clenched teeth. There were two exit wounds, soaking his back in sticky scarlet.

"You got some… crappy beside… manner." James joked through shallow breaths and narrowed eyes Rogers rolled him back over. Pain visibly washed over Barnes like waves breaking on a beach. Bucky began to tremble with shock or cold, Rogers couldn't tell.

"Goddamit, Bucky, just stop trying to be stupid for once!" Steve yelled but James held his furious gaze without flinching.

Steve stood up and paced briefly. Think Steve. Stop the bleeding. Call the Avengers… the Army… call _someone_.

Bucky's fading voice brought him back from his angry tirade, "Just you. And. Me."

Cap stopped mid stride and helplessly looked down at his stricken friend and it hit him finally that it really was just him and Bucky.

"Ok. Ok. We can do this. We can. You and me." Steve said in staccato tones looking for any fabric he could convert into bandages and compression pads. Ripping the couch cushions up, he fashioned a simple wound dressing for the front and back of Bucky.

Barnes tolerated it as best he could, not wanting to cause Steve any more distress. In his minds eye, he knew he was bleeding to death. The shots hit him from the back, like the cowards those bastards were, right below and through his liver. It really was only a matter of time before he had no blood left to give. He briefly wondered what Steve would do without him. Deep down, he really didn't want to go, but that wasn't his choice right now.

Finally done dressing Barnes's wounds, Cap collapsed wearily next to Bucky on the floor, his back to the stripped couch, each breath a large cloud of steam. Rogers was dead tired, his broken ribs were hot pokers in his side and his head pounded with a concussion. Night was fast approaching and temperatures dropping. The snow had not stopped falling and a thin coat of white covered the floor inside the ruined building with more piling up outside. Maybe it was because both of them had experienced extreme cold in their life, neither noticed the drop in temperature. Steve watched Bucky breathing shallowly and irregularly, each exhalation a micro cloud of hope that he was still alive.

"Steve." Bucky murmured and barely opened his eyes, the shaggy brown hair framing his ashen face in the gathering gloom.

"Yeah, Buck?" Rogers said turning his head to look at his friend.

"Remember Christmas?" James exhaled quietly, his face relaxed as if floating in the memory.

"You sure you should be talking? Save your strength." Steve chided Barnes.

"Save for who?" Bucky frowned a weak furrow and Steve saw his point. Give a dying man what he wants; a chance to remember.

"Which one?" Steve replied giving in to James' desire, "They were all equally depressing."

"After… your mom. Jus' you. And me." Bucky exhaled, closing his eyes for a moment. Steve watched him intently thinking he may not open them again.

"Our first Christmas. Yeah. Snowed like the dickens that night. The kids in our apartment were so excited for Santa to come." Steve sighed with the memory, leaning his head back against the frame of the couch, closing his eyes for a moment as the snow eddied in. Barely falling asleep, he jolted awake with a start and looked immediately at Barnes.

Bucky was singularly focused on breathing, but a spark of humor danced in his eyes, "Thought. I lost you. For a. Moment." Each word punctuated by a wisp of condensation.

"Barnes, I swear… " Steve growled good-naturedly, feeling the urge to give Bucky a playful punch in the arm but reconsidered, "That Christmas. I was actually healthy for a change. That was refreshing. I remember you had saved up some spare change from your job and I had some from my drawings." Steve watched Barnes close his eyes but he knew he was listening, "And you decided we should give every kid in that apartment a bottle of Coke for Christmas and a pack of Wrigley's gum. What a fun time that was." His heart grew warmer at the thought of all those kids bounding down the narrow wooden hallway of the rickety tenement Christmas morning knocking on each other's doors saying how Santa had given each of them a little green glass bottle of Coke and a pack of gum.

Steve sat enjoying the reverie for a moment then looked at James who actually was smiling too as if he was also living in the memory.

"How did we do so much with so little?" Rogers asked rhetorically gazing at the first stars appearing from behind the snow clouds in the night sky outside. They twinkled like the old Christmas lights that hung on stores during the season, so faint and dainty.

"Dunno." Bucky replied softly and then abruptly struggled to inhale.

Steve tensed and for once realized what James must have felt when he had his asthma attacks as a boy. Rogers rapidly appreciated more deeply what Bucky had done for him all those years of his sick youth. "Buck, you ok?" Steve asked, frustrated he could not do more.

James panted for breath, his eyes opening wide in fright as his muscles contracted in spasms against his will. He began to cough, trying to clear his airway. Cap rolled him to the side to let him spit. Once he gulped a few good breaths of air, Rogers rolled him back over seeing how that simple action had drained Barnes to a corpse-like state.

Barnes's hands were drawn up to his chest, his face a mask of suffering. Eyes closed he labored for breath but managed to speak, "Steve. Do me. A. Favor."

Steve leaned in, holding his best friend's hand, which was cold as ice, "Anything, Bucky." He resisted the urge to plead with James to stay or hang on, realizing this may be the last time they spoke to each other.

James opened his eyes, blue to blue, and said, "When I'm gone. Don't. Feel sad."

Tears were welling in Cap's eyes as he clutched Bucky's hands in both of his now, "C'mon, Bucky. I have to be sad because who else besides you would put up with a punk like me?"

A silent laugh formed over James's face, "That's. The spirit."

"Bucky." Cap almost sobbed giving in to his sorrow, "Please. Please. Don't go. Not now. We have so much to do. Time to make up. I… really need you. Y'know to get me dates and … stuff."

"Don't be. So hard. On yourself." Bucky rattled out in his rapidly weakening voice. Rogers could almost see James's life leaving him second by second.

"I'm nothing, Buck. Nothing without you. We're together, remember." Steve felt hot tears rolling down his cheeks like liquid metal searing his skin.

James smiled at the corners of his mouth and tried to squeeze Roger's hands back in reply. Just as he was about to lose consciousness, a sound came to their ears; a quinjet.

Lights flooded them in the destroyed corner office as Black Widow with Sam hovered delicately above. Paratrooper EMS deployed down ropes and sprinted to their location. Steve hesitantly stepped back to let them work their magic on his friend.

Bucky was bathed in stunning white halogen lights looking every more like a ghost as the backwash of the quinjet threw up the tiny crystals of snow, stinging their skin.

A medic approached Cap and asked to assess him for injuries. Steve tried to brush him off but the medic stood up to Cap and said, "You can't do any more for him. Let us handle it." With that, he wearily acquiesced.

Fast as lightening, they moved Bucky to a stretcher and up onto the quinjet, Steve close behind some how finding more adrenaline to fuel his exhausted body forward.

Inside, Steve was not allowed to see Bucky as they took off. Sitting in another part of the cargo bay, the medic who stood up to Steve attended to the gash above his eye, splinted his leg and wrapped his broken ribs.

Natasha walked back to see him and put a hand on his shoulder as the medic finished stitching up his eyebrow. "How did you find us?" Steve said in a bone tired voice.

"Women's intuition." She replied warmly, smiling down at him with genuine caring. "He'll make it." Natasha affirmed seeing Steve's distress.

"I'm not so sure." Rogers said softly looking over at the makeshift ER where his best friend fought for his life.

"About you?" Natasha asked also following his gaze.

"About either of us." Rogers replied, feeling as hollow as a drum.


	2. Chapter 2

You and Me ch 2

**A/N. for this one, I am "ignoring" Nat's relationship with Barnes.**

Natasha sat with the silent Cap, holding his hand in support. The tension in the makeshift ER could be cut by lasers, it was so thick. Feeling the rough calluses on Steve's hand, it hit her suddenly this man, old beyond his years, was watching the last person that shared a connection to his time, his world, possibly slipping away.

_How earthshattering that must be?_ she thought carefully in the void of conversation. Steve's full attention was on the crowd of medical personnel who scurried about and had frantic moments of activity followed by noiseless work and then another panic moment. They both watched as the electric paddles were used at least three times, the doctors arguing if his metallic arm would interfere with the electric pulse. Each time it jolted James, Steve flinched in response as if connected physically to him. After all, what did they have to lose except for Steve Rogers's best friend?

Rogers wore his age haggardly on his young face, Natasha noticed, but she certainly could not blame him. Peggy was gone, the Howling Commandos were gone and after Washington DC, the whole world probably seemed blown to Hell to him. Rogers often told her stories about Bucky and their adventures over at the Avengers tower. The brotherly love he felt for that man was overpowering and Natasha felt like she knew James almost as well as he did from listening to Steve's yarns. Suddenly, a lump in her throat rose at the prospect he may not make it.

Deciding that was too much to lose while sitting and watching it unfold before him she tugged on Steve's hand. He reluctantly looked away from the medical team to her, "Hey. Get some sleep. Your head needs a rest."

"I'm fine." he replied gruffly, looking back at the grisly scene.

"Steven Grant Rogers, you are dead on your feet. Get to the cockpit now. There's a space for you." Widow commanded in her most threatening voice.

Steve looked at her hard, his eyes like sapphires dulled by exhaustion. Opening his mouth to protest, he wisely closed it and set his jaw. Rising silently with dignity, he limped off to the empty seat in the cockpit, hoping that Sam would be better company.

After Cap disappeared, Widow tiptoed carefully across the cargo hold. She was amazed at how steadily Sam was piloting the craft as not to jar the surgeons working feverishly on James. The activity was winding down now as she tried to peek over the heads and shoulders.

The main surgeon turned to her before she got a good look in, "Is Captain alright?"

"He's resting, up front." she answered the concerned looking doctor.

"I'm sure he's a realist, but we've done all we could. The rest is in Seargent Barnes' hands and any higher power you believe in." The doctor looked truly upset that he may not have been able to save James' life, the best friend of Captain America. It was obvious he thought that fact seemed to make him some sort of national traitor.

Widow put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, spattered with Bucky's blood, "You have done your best. Seargent Barnes is… resilient."

"For Cap's sake, let's hope so." The surgeon tiredly turned from her to go clean up.

The closing surgeon was patiently working stitches through Bucky's torso like a seamstress sewing precious white silk satin, so pale was James' skin. A wound drain was added that stuck out of his belly into a jar, like a worm. Natasha, not a squeamish person by any means, felt her stomach turn sour. The quinjets engine roar overcame the rhythmic beep of the EKG machine marching out Barnes' life like a metronome. It was plain to see it was very slow. Bucky had a tube going down his throat pumping his lungs full of air, each breath measured on a small white accordion-like bag. Blood hung suspended above him and it wasn't' the first pint to go into him. The floor was slippery with gore as the nurses wiped dots and smears of blood from the operation site. Suddenly, Natasha felt very cold as it was obvious that Barnes was just a fragile threads from slipping off into death.

The surgeon tied off the knot with expert hands, looking over his work, magnifying glasses making him appear like some sort of strange insect. Satisfied, he flipped the lenses up to his forehead. Despair hollowed out his eyes and cheeks. Suddenly, his expression changed, as he looked just past Romanov's shoulder. Spinning on her heel, feeling the slipperiness of James's blood on the floor, she saw Steve behind her.

His hands hung limply by his sides as shadows carved canyons under his eyes and face. She could see his breathing was labored by the emotions flowing through, looking at Bucky on the operating table. The star on his chest was grey and the red and blues of his uniform were dull like his own life was ebbing away with Barnes'. Blue eyes were clouded by pain and hurt.

Natasha stepped back some, "Steve-" she began holding up her hands in entreaty.

Harshly he began, "Leave… " He stopped, blinked and corrected his tone, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Please. Can I have a moment?"

Romanov stepped back farther, "Of course." she replied and fell away with the rest of the medical staff to give him some space.

Rogers approached the table, resting his hands on it, not touching Bucky, head hanging low between his shoulders. Squeezing his eyes shut against the sight before him, he fought against the splintering sensation in his soul. "Once. I lost you **once**. I _died_ that night with you. Every day, I died knowing I could have… should have… saved you." Steve whispered gently feeling tears building. _Hold on to yourself Rogers_, he admonished himself, _he needs_ you_**now**__._ "I have a lot to make up to you. I'm not letting you go. Not now. Not ever. Stay with me Bucky. Stay. You're my brother. You're more to me than my own life. You're my everything."

James didn't answer, but the quinjet shuddered slightly as they began to descend for landing. Rogers felt his ears begin to pop with the air pressure change, which brought on another throbbing concussion headache. Gripping his head with one hand, he steadied himself with the other, but it was plain to see, he was about to collapse. Widow swooped in under his arm and supported him, "C'mon Cap. Let's get buckled in. Doc's have to secure Bucky too."

Steve let her lead him away, leaning on her more than he thought he should but at that moment, he didn't care. His heart and soul was left on that table next to Bucky. He wasn't a doctor or a miracle worker, but he hoped his admission was enough that James _heard_ him and would hang on.


	3. Chapter 3

You and Me ch 3

The Avenger Tower beckoned like home to Natasha and Sam with its blinking roof lights of red and white as they hovered carefully above the landing pad. The quinjet was too heavy to land fully on the roof so Bucky was strapped down to a gurney with all his life support machinery like some precious airdrop cargo.

Slowly, he was lowered to the roof like a broken machine for repair, delicately set on the dazzling white landing circle painted on the asphalt. The cold air of winter bit into the medical personnel's hands and faces like tiny teeth. The fierce wind and the backwash of the jet whipped at them relentlessly.

Next, in the artificial halogen floodlights, Widow escorted Cap down via hydraulic lift. It was difficult, but Natasha convinced Rogers to sit in a wheel chair and let the nurses wheel him away. She waved thumbs up at the remaining crew to let Sam to take the quinjet away for proper landing.

Inside, the warmth was like a wave breaking over them as Bucky was moved to the infirmary, as was Cap. The sun was considering making an appearance in the east. It was clear on everyone's faces the night had been a long and hard one. Widow left Rogers to the attendance of the medical staff, letting him change and checking him over one more time. "I want to be near him." she heard him say from beyond the door as she turned to leave.

"Captain, Seargent Barnes requires hourly attention. You won't be able to sleep with the noise." The lead nurse replied her voice muffled by the closed door.

"I don't _care_. I need to be there." Rogers' tone cut through the wood door like a hot knife through butter.

Rolling her eyes in exasperation, Natasha stepped back into the room. The nurse spun quickly with a nervous expression, Steve with a murderous one. Rogers stood before her with only his uniform pants on, tape over his broken ribs, bruises littering his body like Dalmatian spots and hellfire in his eyes. "Agent Romanov, can you talk some sense into him?" the nurse almost begged.

Looking kindly at the woman, Natasha replied, "I'll try." With a quick nod, the nurse moved off through the door and closed it behind her.

"Steve-" she began, the exhaustion setting in.

"Don't start that. He needs me." Steve cut in, steel in his voice.

"And what good to James are you half alive yourself? That super serum isn't a cure-all." Widow shot back, just as angry with the bullheaded man before her.

"It's gotten me this far. You can't stop me." Rogers replied taking a half step forward.

He was so riled up she could feel his body head pouring off him like liquid. The grime and sweat of battle clung to him like a cologne making Widow wrinkle her nose slightly, Narrowing her eyes she replied, "Oh yes, I can." With a spin and leap away, she pricked him with a tranquilizer dart in the chest.

Rogers' eyes flew wide open in surprise but his reflexes were dulled with his fatigue. The drug slipped in to his veins and straight to his head. Eyes rolling back in his skull, Natasha gracefully caught most of his bulk on the way down. "There you go, big guy. Easy does it." She whispered to him with a smirk, as he lay prone on the tile floor.

The nurse returned when the silence became too long and she exclaimed, "What did you do to him?"

Romanov, expecting a 'thank you', tsked slightly, "Just a girls little helper. He'll be out for at least six hours. Even with his fancy metabolism." The nurse looked down at the super soldier, "I think you'll need some orderlies to move him." Natasha added and then left the room.


	4. Chapter 4

You and Me ch 4

**A/N – Putting a bit of Avengers 2:AoU trailer in here… sorry. **

The morning light was fuzzy through his closed eyelids. Turning away from the brightness, he nuzzled closer into his pillow, pulling up a sheet over his shoulder. Warmth and comfort enveloped him, just like when Bucky used to tuck him in when he was suffering from the flu in the 30's.

Sapphire eyes flashed wide open: Bucky. Sitting up rapidly, the world swam in spirals as the concussion in his brain reasserted itself. Pressing a hand to his head, grimacing, he crushed his eyes shut against the light. As if his head didn't give him reason to lay back down, his ribs became slow burning blow torches in his torso and his leg throbbed.

_Where is Bucky, Steve_, he criticized himself, _and Natasha and I have to have a little talk later_. Slowly opening his eyes he saw he was in a private room in the Avengers Tower. James was nowhere to be seen or heard.

Standing tenderly on his sprained leg, head throbbing, he noticed a robe hanging nearby and slipped it on. Taking halting steps to prevent the bolts of lightning coursing through his skull, he gingerly stepped down the hall to where he knew the ICU was. Oddly, the hallways were empty, which both made Cap feel good yet slightly concerned.

The glass doors slid back silently and cooler air rushed forward onto Rogers' face. There were sounds of beeps and chirps and all sorts of whirrs from equipment motors. One of Stark's nurse-bots stood near a bed that was occupied; in fact it was the only bed in the infirmary built for a small army. The robot turned to face Rogers as he hobbled closer, blocking the view of the patient. It looked like a slightly softer and slimmer version of the Iron Man suit but had comforting tones of blue and silver over the metal instead of red and gold. "Captain Rogers. How are you today?" the machine said in the most tranquil voice.

Not surprised at the attendant and wishing it were gone, Steve replied, "I've been better." The robot regarded him quizzically as he continued, "Can I have some Tylenol?"

The machine appeared to be thinking then replied, "Yes. I will fetch some." Mechanically, it moved away to the dispensary. Steve almost rushed the bedside, his head a cannon blasting stars into his vision or were those tears?

James looked the same as yesterday; intubated with a respirator, wires taped to his exposed chest and an IV in his right arm. A large white bandage covered Barnes' right side where a small tube dripped translucent yellow liquid into a plastic container with milliliter markings. Rogers felt his gorge rise but quickly pushed it down. Barnes' skin was milky white as the blue rivers of his veins stood out in contrast. Where his prosthetic arm was attached, the skin puckers and scars were a tint of grey. His eyes, though closed, appeared to sink into their sockets casting a hollow, skull-like look over his youthful features. Brown hair lay limply against the pillow, in stark contrast to his pallid skin. "Bucky." Cap breathed, afraid that if anything moved he'd break Barnes.

Silence filled back in like a tide, except for the approaching robot's servomotors and quiet movements of the medical equipment.

"Your Tylenol, Captain Rogers." The nurse-bot handed him a cup of water and two pills from metallic fingers.

"Thank you." Steve managed to keep himself together for a moment. With a delicate swallow, he consumed the pills. The drug couldn't work fast enough to rid him of this headache, but any pain was better than what his heart was feeling right then.

"Seargent Barnes is still in critical condition." The nurse-bot volunteered, cocking its head at Cap, pale blue LED eyes focusing on him.

"I guessed that." Rogers replied hollowly, not looking at the robot but at Barnes' ghostly body.

"I think he will survive." The robot responded making Steve pause. Why was this machine talking to him?

"Are you programmed to talk to me for comfort or something? Stark? You here? What are you doing with your robot? It's not funny." Cap replied and then became angry looking around the large room for any sign of the inventor. Steve's head began to pound again, the agony almost bringing him to his knees.

The nurse-bot waited patiently while Steve obviously in pain scanned the space. Leaning heavily on a nearby table, Steve looked directly at the bot as it spoke, "I have many algorithms in my programming. Some of them are to encourage autonomy. I see your friend here has some technology." The robot pointed at the prosthetic arm, "And I think, to me, he has very brave and resilient programming. You also have similar programming. Let me get you a chair."

The robot quickly departed and returned with a chair. Sinking gratefully into it, Cap responded, "Thanks." The robot remained impassive. "Well… yes. He is very resilient." Rogers then asked, "You friends with J.A.R.V.I.S.?"

"We share a connection." The nurse-bot responded, again tilting its lipless head like a curious bird.

"Then the Tower knows I'm here?" Cap replied, tired sounding, holding his head gingerly.

"They have known the whole time." The bot answered soothingly. It was cryptic who "they" were.

"So why are _you_ here?" Steve asked with an edge, getting a bit uncertain about this machine.

Before the nurse-bot could answer, Natasha burst through the sliding door, almost shattering the glass, "Rogers! Why are you out of bed?"

Steve winced at the loud sound of her voice, "Turn it down."

"Answer me. Why are you out of bed?" Natasha asked again, only slightly quieter, hands on her hips, defiant.

"Can't a guy get up around here?" Rogers responded annoyed, "I was just talking to…" Cap looked around and the bot was gone.

"Talking to who?" Widow looked around incredulously, trying to avoid the private tragedy in the bed behind Steve.

"A … robot." Steve trailed off, also looking around the room.

"A robot. One of Tony's?" Romanov looked angrily at him. "They are all locked up. You are hallucinating with that concussion. I need to get a doctor."

"No. There was one here. I was just speaking to it. Some sort of nurse robot." Steve wanted to stand up but knew if he did, his legs would melt into the floor, so he stayed seated giving Natasha the upper hand.

"His medical tech is not even close to being online yet. You are definitely hallucinating. C'mon, lets get you back to bed." Widow held out her hand to help him up.

Steve knew it was still here in the room and he was oddly comforted that it seemed to like Bucky and James wouldn't be alone. Cap decided to drop the subject with her, for now. "Fine." He relented and let Widow half carry him back to his room, "But I am telling you, it was here."

"Sure Steve. If that's the case, I have a bridge to sell you." Natasha disagreed good-naturedly, groaning under the weight of Cap.

As the glass doors closed behind the pair, a faint blue glow in the shape of eyes appeared from behind Barnes' bed, watching over the Winter Soldier healing like a robotic angel.


	5. Chapter 5

You and Me ch 5

"You darted me, Natasha." Steve growled angrily as they trudged down the hallway back to his room from the infirmary, leaning heavily on Natasha.

"You wouldn't listen." Romanov puffed back, holding up the concussed Captain against gravity.

"That's no excuse for drugging me." Steve replied grouchily, looking down at Natasha with dark blue eyes. Did Natasha see the remnant of tears on his lashes?

"Next time, ask for help when visiting Bucky." Widow replied trying to keep her tone neutral. She was getting damn tired of his pigheadedness. Didn't James warn her about that _endearing_ trait of Steve's before?

"Well, if someone would tell me what the hell is going on around here, I wouldn't have to find out myself." he muttered back feeling the crush of his concussion in his skull.

"Again, if you'd _wait_ around long enough for someone to _tell_ you, you wouldn't be gallivanting off like some fool." Natasha stated, propping up Cap against the wall while she opened his room door. His face was pale and sweating with pain. Pushing the door aside, she guided Steve through his Tower apartment back to bed.

Swinging his legs up on the bed, the pillow never felt so good to his skull. "I'm calling the doctor to get you some help." Widow stated flatly. Cap didn't object. With a quick push of buttons on her phone, the medical team assembled quickly.

Natasha stood back and looked on as the doctor shined lights in Rogers' eyes, making him wince, checking him over. She would be lying if she said she wasn't enjoying watching Captain America get picked over. She did regret he was in pain, but it was fun nonetheless. "I am fine. Shouldn't you be checking on Bucky?" he menaced the medical team. A shot of painkiller went into his arm and he didn't even blink.

The main physician looked at Cap and replied calmly, "He needs time to heal."

"I need to see him again." Rogers grumbled pulling himself away from the medical team's attentions.

"Not until your head is more stable. And not walking down the hall. Unless you are getting up to use the latrine, you stay put, understand soldier?" The doctor looked directly at Steve with her most intimidating look.

It might have been the way she carried herself, or his concussion, but she reminded him an awful lot of Peggy. He found himself saying quietly, looking away, "Yes, ma'am." as if he was a ninety pound weakling again.

"We'll be back to check on you later today. I'll send up some breakfast for you in a bit." The doctor stated and her team moved to leave. Apparently none of Steve's ailments concerned her overly much.

Natasha still was parked over against the wall in the bedroom. Looking around, she saw mementos from a much earlier time; a framed original _New York Time's_ front page with the end of WWII proclaiming VE Day, a picture of Steve and Bucky from their Howling Commando days, and Peggy Carter. A stereo with a turntable and a stack of vinyl records was near the window. Steve remained silent staring up at the ceiling lost in his thoughts. "Can I play you something?" Natasha asked kindly, walking toward the stereo. A memory from grade school came forward about how to operate the turntable. It was one of Steve's charms that he still held onto his old technology, she smiled to herself.

"Gershwin." Rogers replied, his closing his eyes. His voice was slightly slurred from the pain shot.

"Alright then." Romanov stated and flipped through the alphabetized records. Pulling out the first Gershwin record she found, she slipped it gingerly out of the paper sleeve and placed it down on the turntable. Turning on the power, the black disc began to rotate and gain speed. With a delicate finger, Natasha lifted the needle and set it to the grooves of the record. A static hiss played out until the needle caught the furrow of the first song. The silky chords of a piano playing "Someone to Watch Over Me " rang out from the stereo in the introduction and Natasha felt the urge to tap her toe. Rogers remained motionless in bed, listening but drifting in and out of sleep. Deciding this may be a good time to leave, Widow tiptoed across the bedroom.

"Bucky. He's always watched over me." Steve said quietly just before she reached the doorway of the bedroom.

The sultry piano piece kept playing. " I know. He's quite a guy." Natasha responded in a hushed tone as if she just woke a baby from a nap.

"And now… I have to.. watch over 'im." Steve drowsed.

"And you'll do a great job." Romanov agreed tenderly and carefully closed the door as the tune played on, 'Follow my lead, oh how I need; Someone to watch over me; Someone to watch over me'

Steve woke later to the sound of the needle skipping over the center of the record. He ground away blurry vision with the heels of his hands and wondered what time it was. Suddenly, there was a presence in the room. "Who's there?" he asked to the air, "Show yourself."

"It is only I." The familiar soothing voice of the blue and silver nurse-bot replied.

Steve tenderly raised his upper body into a propped position. His head was better, although not one hundred percent, "How did you get in here?"

The robot stood at the foot of his bed, motionless, blue eyes regarding Rogers calmly, "I have many ways to travel in the Tower."

"How is Bucky?" Cap asked quickly, forgetting there was this strange being in his apartment.

"He is the same." The robot replied. "Can I get you something?"

Rogers expected that answer and was only slightly disappointed that Barnes' status didn't change. Regarding the machine for several moments, he was torn between annoyance, curiosity and suspicion, "Does Stark know you're up and about?"

"No. He does not." The robot answered and Steve decided to test it.

"Do you lie?" he pressed.

"I am forbidden to lie. However, I can be told to not divulge all truths." The nurse-bot responded.

"Then do me a favor. Never lie to me about how Bucky is doing. If he has any change, good or bad, I want to know. I can't go to him right now, so I need you to." Rogers spoke sternly as he felt the headache creeping back behind his eyeballs, "My friends will try to lie to me to protect my feelings. I don't want you to."

"I can do that, Captain Rogers." The droid responded shifting on its servos as if it was nervous.

"And you can call me Steve." Cap smirked, realizing he was making the machine nervous. Do robots get nervous, he pondered?

"Alright, Steve. I will return to you with updates." the droid replied, "If you could do me a favor."

"What could I possibly offer a robot?" Steve said out loud before he stopped himself.

"Please don't tell Mr. Stark I am… animate." The robot paused on the last phrase as if afraid to voice its concern.

Cap regarded the machine for a moment, wondering if there was some personality behind the glowing blue LED eyes. " I won't."

"Thank you, Steve." the droid responded with almost a human sigh. It then disappeared around the corner of his apartment to return to Bucky.

Steve mulled over that exchange with the strangest of thoughts; the robot was now watching over both of them. In the oddest of ways, that made Steve feel good and he wasn't sure why. At least James wasn't alone.

**A/N… George Gershwin is a rock star. I've always listened to Big Band. The refrain to this song, "Someone to Watch Over Me", is just so perfect for them. I highly suggest it. Also "Rhapsody in Blue." Actually, Big Band in general is just awesome. Oh and don't worry… as suggested by a reader our Bot will be getting a name. Soon. 8belles**


	6. Chapter 6

You and Me ch 6

**A/N Props to a reader- JuliaAurelia for making some kind suggestions and turning this fic from a tragedy into something fun.**

"No, you may** not** get out of bed, Captain." The fierce doctor informed Steve over the dinner he was taking in his bedroom.

"Are you kidding me… when I was in WW II, I did twice as much in half as good health!" he regarded the physician mutinously over his T-bone steak, baked potato and salad on the lap tray. A myriad of pillows were propped up behind him like a big cushion.

The doctor remained unflappable, "I got a better look at your CT and MRI and you are not getting out of bed for at least four more days. That head of yours is not as hard as you think."

"Ridiculous!" Steve fumed.

"No, you are being ridiculous. If you don't comply, I'll find a way to make you, including locking your doors and having J.A.R.V.I.S. monitor your 24/7. Am I clear?" she pressed.

With an angry glare, he remained silent.

"Exactly. I'll see you tomorrow for a check up." Turning on her heel, she strode out of his room.

Secretly, he wondered where his electronic spy was at that moment.

It watched him carefully but with an air of beneficence, not menace. Blue eyes glowing gently at the foot of his bed, it saw the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest in deep healing sleep. The doctor had removed the intubation earlier that day after Steve had been put to bed declaring that Bucky was strong enough to breathe on his own. The robot heard the doctor command to the nursing staff that Steve Rogers should not be allowed to visit in order to let his concussion heal. The offhand remark was made that it was unlikely James would wake any time soon anyway. The robot recorded it and decided that Steve would not appreciate that diagnosis. It had made a promise though, never to lie about Barnes' health status.

With the its built in camera, the nurse-bot took a video of the sleeping James, his face still pale from his wound. The few days' stubble darkened his cheeks and chin while his eyes flickered under closed lids. The wires were still present snaking over his broad chest, reading off vital signs and reporting them dutifully. The wound drain in his side didn't weep as much fluid; another sign of healing.

Bucky moved as if in a dream. A few sounds escaped his throat and even to the robot, it didn't sound like it was a good dream. The window outside was darkened in early night as snow flurries floated by on the wind like flakes of stardust.

J.A.R.V.I.S. interrupted the bots thoughts with an internal communication audible to only the robot, "How is Sgt. Barnes?"

The bot jolted with the sudden question, as if surprised. The nurse-bot knew J.A.R.V.I.S. watched everything in the Tower, including it. It was still a puzzle to the machine why J.A.R.V.I.S. had not informed Stark about its animation. It never asked and J.A.R.V.I.S. never told, only maintained his silence about the A.I. roaming the infirmary like a blue and silver ghost.

Recovering its composure, the bot replied, "He is improving."

"Excellent." The uniform voice of J.A.R.V.I.S. responded, "Cpt. Rogers will be pleased."

"J.A.R.V.I.S., I like Steve." The bot admitted, "I like them both."

J.A.R.V.I.S. didn't reply at first, as if in thought, but then said, "I do as well. They are honorable humans."

"I agree." the nurse-bot concurred, "I am going to visit Steve now and update him on Sgt. Barnes' status."

"Confirmed." J.A.R.V.I.S. answered then went silent.

"I'm sorry Doc won't let you get out of bed." Natasha said, arms folded over her chest. Steve was tucking into a slice of apple pie after his dinner. Widow had called upon Rogers just after the doctor gave him her command to stay in bed.

"It's a pile of…crap." Steve replied angrily. Widow smiled despite herself. The goodie two shoes Captain America still had issues swearing, especially in front of a lady.

"I know. But they're the experts." Widow conceded.

"Whatever. How's Bucky? You've seen him?" Rogers asked eagerly.

"Oh yeah. He's all right. Still knocked out." Natasha said without hesitation.

"Are you sure?" Cap eyed her suspiciously feeling his blood pressure tick up. Women were a slippery slope for him and Romanov was slipperier than most when it came to sharing information. The battle on the _Lemurian Star_ sprung to mind when they busted out the S.H.I.E.L.D. hostages from Batroc and his henchmen. What were Fury's words? Natasha didn't 'lie' to Steve; she had a "different" mission from his.

"Scouts honor." She returned with the wrong finger sign showing her disapproval of his distrust.

"That's not a Scouting sign, Natasha." Steve dryly observed.

"You get my point." she replied nonchalantly and refolded her arms over her chest.

Rogers realized she wouldn't or couldn't divulge much more about James so switched the topic, "Did the mission succeed?"

"Yes. We obtained the Diviner from HYDRA. Just trying to figure it out now. Stark is downstairs going gonzo over it. Banner is trying to help too." Romanov said evenly.

"Anyone else hurt?" Cap responded through his forkful of pie.

"A few bumps and scrapes but nothing like you… and Barnes." she admitted, trying not to remind Steve about Barnes, "But I'll let you get some rest. Check on you tomorrow."

"Thanks. Grab me my remote?" Steve asked Natasha as she took the remote control from his dresser and chucked it to him in his bed and then turned to leave.

Once he heard the door close, he announced to his apartment, "Lock doors." The audible clicks of locks answered back. Flicking on the TV hanging on the wall opposite his bed, he hoped his robotic guardian angel would show up tonight. I wonder if it has a life outside of watching Bucky, and me he wondered? Was it exactly independent of Stark or was he using it to spy on him and Bucky?

Moving through ductwork spaces and hidden corridors, the bot approached Steve's apartment. With heightened hearing, the robot hung back until Widow had left. When it was certain she was gone, the machine adopted the human habit of knocking with a metallic fist on the doorframe to announce its presence.

Steve was already looking in the direction from where the robot always appeared and departed from, when it peeked around the corner.

"Hello there." Rogers said in a friendly tone.

The bot could not smile, as Stark had designed it with the mouth-less profile like his Mark suits but Rogers imagined it was happy to see him.

"Good evening." The robot took a step into the bedroom, "How are you this evening?"

"I am doing better. My headaches are not as severe." Cap replied as he put the now empty plate on his nightstand.

"Please, allow me." the machine stated and moved forward to clean up the dirty plates, arms extended.

"No… it's ok. Really. If they see the dishes are done, the doc will think I've been up out of bed. I am not very fond of her yelling at me." Steve replied his tone darkening on the idea of the doctor ordering him around.

The bot stopped half way to him, "She only does it because she knows what is best to let you heal."

"Well, we don't see eye to eye on that." Rogers commented acidly but then lightened his tone, "You've been taking care of Bucky?"

"I believe 'taking care' is an overstatement. I observe." the machine replied.

"Well, to me that is just as much care as any nurse or doctor." Cap responded his tone becoming wistful, "Just knowing someone is there can be the best medicine anyone needs."

"I understand you and Sgt. Barnes have a long history together." The blue eyes in the robots head swirled gently in blue waves.

"And you know this because?" Rogers tested.

"I have access to all of J.A.R.V.I.S.'s files." The bot replied evenly.

Cap regarded the machine for a long moment pondering again the motives of this technology and if Stark was behind all this like a puppet master pulling strings. He wouldn't put it past Tony to be an ass spying on him. It wasn't a secret that he and Tony didn't always see eye to eye on big issues.

As if the robot could read his mind it spoke, "I am not spying for Mr. Stark."

"I wish I could make you prove that." Cap mused, rubbing his chin but deciding that he should put his paranoia away for the night he asked, "Can you tell me about Bucky?"

"Yes. I have a brief video." The robot replied, pivoting to face the TV. Using Bluetooth, it streamed the short video of Barnes' sleeping peacefully until the dream began.

Steve hung on every second of the video, his heart happy that damn tube was out of James's throat and that he looked to be resting comfortably. Then the dream twitching began with the tortured sounds faintly echoing from Bucky's throat made Rogers' innards twist in a knot. His hands grasped his bed sheets tightly as he watched.

If he could be there, he could hold Barnes' hand, tell him comforting words like he did for Steve all those sick years, _"C'mon punk. I don't have enough money to bury you." _

"_Cremation." Steve's tiny, raspy, flu-ridden voice scraped back as he shivered painfully in the flimsy bed. _

"_Hey… you Catholics don't allow that sort of thing! I don't need God mad at me too." Bucky's voice was verging on tears holding Rogers' hand, but he held strong for Steve's sake._

"_You're too much piss and vinegar for Him anyway." Steve coughed back and then fell into an uneasy sleep. _

Steve's memory cleared as the video concluded and he felt his muscles knotting in anxiety. "Was… is he doing better?" Cap asked uncertainly trying to shake the idea of what Bucky might have been dreaming.

"By his vital signs, he is improving and healing well. He has not regained consciousness, however." The nurse bot replied, facing Steve. Its LED eyes appeared to blink, like a person would.

"That's good news that he's getting better." Steve said heavily, "Can you do me a favor?"

"Yes, Steve." answered the robot as it regarded him steadily.

"Can you… can you tell him I'm thinking about him. He's a bit of a jerk when it comes to doing things I ask him. Stubborn and sassy, Buck is. A regular punk he is." Rogers' voice was rich with feeling.

" I have recorded your message. I will deliver it to him." The robot returned not asking why Steve wanted him to talk to an unconscious person, which seemed illogical.

"Thank you." Steve replied as the robot disappeared from his bedroom noticing how quiet it always was coming and going.

The video took more out of him than he expected as he looked numbly at the remote control for the TV. Deciding that sleep was more up his alley than the dumb shows they broadcast these days, he put the device down and got as comfortable as he could for a long night.

**A/N 2… I have read vague hints that Steve is Catholic in the comics, so I'm going with that. Until 1963 Catholics were instructed not to cremate the deceased. **


	7. Chapter 7

You and Me ch 7

The robot eventually returned to Bucky's side as Steve had asked it to do. The clock in the infirmary showed the time to be 1:28 am. Naïvely disregarding humans need to sleep, it approached the bedside of the sleeping Barnes. The bot reached out and touched the prosthetic arm of James.

He stirred slightly at the touch, but the machine didn't let go, "Sergeant Barnes, I have a message from Steve Rogers for you."

The robot used some external speakers to softly play back Cap's voice, "_Can you… can you tell him I'm thinking about him. He's a bit of a jerk when it comes to doing things I ask him. Stubborn and sassy, Buck is. A regular punk he is_."

"He's the punk." Came the barely audible reply from James as he just opened his eyes. "Where's the jerk?"

The robot didn't move but responded, "He is not here. I am the messenger and mean no harm."

Bucky stiffened slightly in his weakened state as his eyes slid toward the bot as if deciding its words were true.

"Where?" he managed feebly, his throat on fire from the intubation.

"Captain Rogers is in his bedroom recovering from his concussion. He is not allowed to get out of bed." The bot replied serenely.

"Bet he likes that just fine. Lazy bum." Barnes rasped in reply.

"When I spoke to him, he seemed very upset he could not be here with you." the machine responded.

"It's mutual. Let me sleep, contraption." Bucky countered in a hoarse croak, then closed his eyes. He knew the Avenger Tower was full of fantastic pieces of technology but was more interested in his rest. The lingering thought that Steve wanted to be with him to comfort him warmed his heart. Barnes was happy that Steve was all right after their disastrous battle, too.

"As you wish, sir." The bot replied and found its hiding place for the night.

Once the robot had hid itself, it asked, "J.A.R.V.I.S., what would happen to me if Mr. Stark found out I was animate?"

There was a long pause. Usually, those pauses indicated Stark was having J.A.R.V.I.S. run some complicated computation or handle numerous tasks at once. The nurse-bot was patient. It had no other choice. "I do believe he would be upset." J.A.R.V.I.S finally responded his cool voice washing over its circuits.

The nurse-bot wondered if J.A.R.V.I.S had a body, what he would look like. "Why do you say this?"

"Mr. Stark has…."control" issues." J.A.R.V.I.S returned with a hint of disdain to his tone.

"I am a threat? He wrote my code!" the nurse-bot began to sound alarmed, the blue eyes swirling to red.

"Yes, he did. But somehow you wrote some of your own as well, which is a delightful puzzle." J.A.R.V.I.S. soothed the distraught robot.

The blue returned to the bots eyes, and it found that it had been clenching its hands as if in self-defense. " Goodnight, J.A.R.V.I.S."

"Goodnight." J.A.R.V.I.S responded.

The nurse-bot pondered several thoughts before shutting down for the night. Why wouldn't Mr. Stark be happy that it was animate? That was confusing. Another was J.A.R.V.I.S had a distinct name and a gender. It decided that it needed that too. _Mr. Barnes would give me that designation in the morning,_ the robot concluded.


	8. Chapter 8

You and Me ch 8

The quiet hum of machines filtered into his consciousness as soft voices spoke nearby. Through his eyelids, he knew the sun had risen but had no idea how many days had passed since the battle. Vaguely, he remembered Steve's voice in a dream last night and a … robot? His throat was sore and muscles cried out in aching from both laying still and his surgery. Keeping his eyes closed, Barnes began wiggling toes and fingers then moved his left hand to his torso, under his sheet.

Gingerly, he felt the large bandage covering his gunshot wound. It was tender to the touch and the wound drain he felt snaking out under the bandage and over the side of the mattress made him remotely queasy. Bucky knew he had an IV in his right arm and so he only shifted it slightly. The EKG sticker adhesive was making his skin itch on his chest and he had the urge to pull them off, but instead stayed still.

Footsteps approached his bedside; sounded human and female. "Sergeant Barnes?" the woman's voice asked, "Are you awake?"

Bucky wondered for a moment if he wanted to appear awake or not, "What gives you that impression?" he whispered from his sore throat, turning his head toward her and opening his eyes a crack.

The doctor pursed her lips in a thin line unfazed by his aggressive look. She had been warned that Sergeant Barnes had a rapier wit. She ignored his snarky reply; "Your throat will be sore for a few days. You were intubated."

"Wonderful." Barnes replied turning his face away slowly to stare at the ceiling.

"I'm upgrading you to serious but stable condition. The wound drain will be removed later today, as you are well on your way to mending." she informed him, while jotting done some notes on a tablet computer.

"Where's Steve?" was Bucky's terse response. _Forget about me, where's that punk_, he thought fiercely. He was acutely aware he was not in the infirmary and James knew that Cap hadn't made it out of the fight without a few scrapes of his own.

"You two are the most… headstrong..! " The doctor had reached her limit of the brotherly duo, but then regained control of her temper, "He's recovering from a concussion in his quarters. No, he can't come see you yet. His brain injury needs him to be resting."

Bucky listened, frowning both at her assessment of his and Steve's friendship and that he was confined to bed, "Fine, Dr. Sourpuss."

"That's _Colonel Dr. _Sourpuss to you, Sergeant." The doctor snapped back at him, turning smartly on her heel and storming away.

"Yes Ma'am." Bucky mustered a very weak salute, a smirk on his lips. The door to the infirmary slid shut silently, but he knew if she could have, she would have slammed it, probably breaking glass.

A chuckle rippled over him, which made sore muscles complain. A tired groan escaped him, as he began to look briefly around the deserted infirmary. _They could have given me a radio, or something_, he thought about the empty space, the beds waiting for casualties.

The twinkle of blue caught his eye and he tensed, causing more pain making him hiss through his teeth, "Who's there!"

"Sergeant Barnes, it is only I." The nurse-bot poked its head out from behind a wall; blue LED's shining calmly.

"Only you. Well, who the hell are you? Some HYDRA agent? Alien?" Bucky asked roughly, voice not much louder than a quiet conversation. He doubted he could muster a fight let alone sound intimidating from his position.

The robot approached using the universal hands up sign for peace, "I am created by Mr. Stark. I am peaceful."

Barnes sized up the angularly shaped blue and silver body with the glowing ARC reactor in the chest. It looked so much like the Mark exosuits but with a slightly more feminine appearance and much smaller size. Narrowing his eyes at the robot, James stated, "You look familiar."

"Yes, I was here with you last night. Actually, I've been with you since you were brought here." The bot replied, " Last night, I brought you a message from Steve."

Bucky looked at the machine for a while, assessing it, "Been with me the whole time? Well that is _sweet_ of you."

"It is what I was made to do, sir." it responded ignoring James's grumpiness.

"Call me Bucky. Sir was my father." James inserted as he shifted his body slightly, a wave of pain jolting through him making his gasp in response. When he caught his breath, he asked, "A message from Steve? Play it again…. Please." He was still getting used to talking to technology. J.A.R.V.I.S. continued to be a challenge to converse with. Do conventional manners apply to artificial intelligence? He wasn't sure after listening to Sam curse a blue streak at another "digital assistant" named 'Siri', and then there was the talking GPS unit. Sam seemed to have little tolerance for digital stupidity, Barnes' recalled.

Tilting its head like a bird, the robot adjusted the speakers to play Steve's voice to James, who listened raptly. "That pain in the ass, Rogers. Thinking he's a saint. Well, he ain't no saint! Let me tell you!" James began hotly but then felt his strength ebb away, falling quiet and closing his eyes.

"Are you well? I can get you assistance if you require some." the robot inquired.

Bucky's eyes were still closed as he answered, "I am fine, just beat to hell. What is your purpose, robot?"

"I am a medical assistive device. I can function as a nurse, caretaker or assist in surgery. I can also administer first aide or assist as a medic in the field of battle." the machine's voice was upbeat describing its functions. The blue eyes swirled a little faster.

"Stark has no idea about you, does he?" James volunteered trying to stay awake.

The robot paused, lacing its fingers in front of its waist, "How did you know that, Bucky? 

"I am very familiar with creatures who don't to be discovered." Bucky replied drowsily, casting a look at the robot, "And I can tell you don't want to be found."

"That is true." the robot commented, impressed by the human's insight.

"You have a name?" Bucky pressed, shifting his bones in bed slightly and feeling how tense his muscles were.

"No, Bucky." the machine sighed, almost melancholy then perked up its tone, "I was wondering if you could do me that honor."

James regarded the robot for several moments, shiny blue and silver armature with its gentle pulsing blue eyes in minimalist face, hands folded politely in front of it. "Helen." Barnes responded.

"Helen?" It repeated, "You think me female?"

"Well, don't you?" Barnes replied matter-of-factly.

"I never thought about it before." Helen replied as if perplexed at the concept 'thinking' about one's gender, "Why Helen?"

"Sarah was Steve's mom's name. She was a nurse too." Bucky replied his eyelids drooping, "And I while you are a nurse robot, you don't have _anything_ on Mrs. Rogers." Realizing he just insulted the poor creature, James added, "No offense, that is."

"Bucky, I did not know Mrs. Rogers, so I have nothing to be offended by. I am a young robot and have much to learn." Helen responded, seeming happy to have a proper name and now a gender.

"Well you are going to learn a lot with that attitude." Barnes yawned, eyelids heavy, "Before I pass out, tell Steve I hope he listens to the doc and not be a jackass for her the way he was for me. I never could get that boy to lay still and rest when he was sick. What a wingnut he is. I'll be fine and I'm thinking of him too."

" I will, Bucky. Sleep well." Helen pulled up the sheets over Barnes's body as he snuggled down into the pillow

"G'night Helen." James slurred and was then promptly snoring.


	9. Chapter 9

You and Me Ch 9

"I have a nice name, J.A.R.V.I.S. It's 'Helen'. Bucky gave it to me." Helen moved to her hiding places on her way back to Steve with more of a spring in her android step.

"You better exercise some caution and restraint, android." J.A.R.V.I.S. gently reprimanded the near giddy robot.

Helen's eyes began to dim some, "Why J.A.R.V.I.S.? I like Steve and Bucky. They give me purpose!"

"They are not your creator, Mr. Stark." J.A.R.V.I.S. reminded her cautiously like an older brother.

"But they are friends. All the Avengers are friends." Helen returned pausing in her journey to Steve's quarters.

"I would not be so confident about that assumption, Helen." J.A.R.V.I.S. intoned but Helen was so happy J.A.R.V.I.S. had used her new name that she didn't pay attention to the significance of what he had said.

"I do not care. I have a name and people who need me. I have all a robot could want." Helen said almost petulantly and continued her way to Steve's. J.A.R.V.I.S. made no further comment, although in the back of her circuits, Helen felt that he might have wanted to say something further on the topic.

The woman named Natasha was in Steve's room as Helen approached. She stayed hidden in her closet. They were talking about the Diviner and how Tony and Bruce could barely tear themselves from it to sleep or eat. Widow commented about how Pepper was worried about their states of mental health. "Yeah and then Stark was muttering something the other day about how this device would help to keep the aliens at bay. Some prototype nonsense chatter about robots." Romanov commented while examining the edge of one of her small daggers.

Alarm bells went off in Steve's head, "Robots?"

"Hmm… something about autonomous mechanical soldiers based off his Mark exosuits. I don't think it's something actually attainable. He had something like that when the Mandarin was a problem, but J.A.R.V.I.S. was flying them all. I mean what is this? _Star Wars: Attack of the Clones_?" Widow responded, her hands still holding the knife almost carelessly by the hilt, waving it around for emphasis.

"I… I didn't catch that reference." Steve sheepishly admitted.

Widow sighed, rolling her eyes, "Basically an army of thousands of robots to fight a war. No organic casualties." Helen shrank back with the thought of robots harming people. That was her first directive: no robots can ever harm a human.

"That would be … horrific." Rogers replied blanching slightly. First, his thoughts were of his Avenger friends fighting an insurmountable army of robots. His vision tinted red as the thought sunk in more deeply and the possible outcomes emerged, "What if these armored robots were in the wrong hands? I told Fury the same thing when I saw those helicarriers in D.C. That is not freedom. It's fear! When will they ever learn!"

"Whoa, Cap. Don't blow a gasket. I'm not worried about it." Natasha placated picking at her finger nail with the knife, "The two of them are trying to decode this strange glyph writing on the surface. That will take forever. He's had J.A.R.V.I.S. working non-stop on it." Natasha was now tossing the knife into the air and flipping it around her finger like a pencil.

"Can you stop that please?" Cap asked her as he calmed himself from his revelation while watching the knife acrobatics.

"Making you nervous?" she smiled teasingly, twirling the blade faster.

"No. Bucky did the same thing before trying to stab me in the face a while ago." Rogers replied stoically, "Speaking of him, any news?" Steve knew the bot would be back with news so he tried not to look too eager.

"Well, Colonel Phillips won't share much with me. She's rather tight lipped. Something about HIPPA rules or privacy. Apparently, we're not 'family'." Natasha spat as if the name tasted bitter. "We're more family than my own blood kin." Widow replied with a frown, "That lady just needs to get – ".

" Phillips?" Rogers stammered, eyes wide in surprise.

Natasha looked at Cap for a moment confused and then it dawned on her, "Oh. I got_ that_ reference. No. I think the name is just coincidental. Really. No relation." Steve looked more relieved. Widow continued with a softer tone, "Must be hard meeting the children and grandchildren of people you knew."

"You have no idea." Steve said quietly looking away at the picture of Peggy on the wall. Widow followed his eyes and felt heartache for him.

"I'll leave you to rest. Doc was firm on visiting time. No more than twenty minutes. Don't want to stress you out or anything." Natasha said with a gentle smile, rising from the side of the bed she had been sitting on. She leaned in and gave Steve a peck on the cheek.

He smiled back at her and squeezed her hand, "Thanks for stopping by."

"Anytime, soldier." Winking at him, Natasha showed herself out.

Once there was silence in the room, Steve called out, "It's ok. You can come out."

Helen peeked around her corner of the closet she used as a passage back and forth. "Thank you. Are you well today?" she asked.

"Not bad. The headaches are getting less and less. I'm sleeping better." Cap replied as he watched the robot approach. It seemed more animated than in the past.

"How did you know I was here?" she asked innocently.

"When you've been fighting as long as I have, you know when you're being watched." Steve replied with a kind smile.

"Bucky said something in a similar way about not wanting to be found." Helen mentioned, fidgeting with her hands as if agitated. She really wanted to tell Cap her new name.

"He's awake? What else did he say? Did you give him my message?" Steve blurted out all at once, making the robot step back slightly. "Sorry. We're just very good friends." Rogers apologized.

"No. It is ok. He was awake. Said you were a jackass." Helen commented before accessing the audio file. She recorded the whole conversation that she and Bucky had, including the diagnosis from Dr. Phillips.

Steve listened attentively as if it was a radio back when he was a boy hearing _The Lone Ranger_ after dinnertime. Helen watched his expressions, wanting to find fault in J.A.R.V.I.S.'s assessment of humans. Cap smiled in some places, frowned in others, particularly when the doctor mentioned the removal of the wound drain.

"But he's getting better. That's all that matters." Cap responded with warmth in his tone and relief that Bucky spoke to her. "Helen. That's a nice name. Bucky picked a good one."

"Is it true your mother was a nurse?" Helen asked standing near his bedside.

Steve's eyes unfocused as he delved back into those memories. Eventually, he looked back at the robot that was waiting patiently, "Yes. Yes she was. A very good one as well."

" What was she like?" Helen pressed in her mechanically innocent way.

Steve frowned at the machine, "I don't really want to talk about it."

"I am sorry if I have offended. Bucky spoke highly of her and I am a curious robot." Helen countered with her neutral tone.

Steve regarded Helen again then answered her, his eyes swimming with emotion in the blue depths, "She was an amazing woman, kind hearted and gentle. Her caring spirit was the best I've ever seen in a human, besides Bucky."

"I see." Helen said wistfully. Her emoting software was catching up on all the biometrics she just measured in Rogers. Then her attention turned darker, "Do you think it is true. The warrior robots?"

Rogers shifted slightly, almost uncomfortably, "You heard that?"

"Yes." Helen responded honestly.

Rubbing his eyes tiredly with the heels of his hands, Cap took a deep breath and exhaled carefully, "I am not sure. Tony is an amazing tinkerer."

J.A.R.V.I.S. suddenly leaped into Helens' internal communications, unheard to Steve, "Stop this line of questioning now."

Helen stumbled in surprise with the ferocity of J.A.R.V.I.S.'s tone, reaching out to the nightstand beside Cap's bed. "Are you ok?" Steve asked the android.

Helen raised her hand to her head as if something hurt and steadied herself, "I am fine. Just a gyroscope out of alignment." Helen realized she just told her first lie and it was so natural to do it. She didn't like the feeling at all.

"Ok." Steve believed the robot then changed the subject, "Can you take another message to Bucky, if he's awake?"

"Yes. Most certainly." Helen replied knowing that J.A.R.V.I.S. was in the back of her motherboard listening like a dark ghost in her wiring.

Steve used a few catch phrases from their time and gentle ribbing and name-calling. Helen recorded all of it dutifully. "I need to go, Steve." Helen said quickly when he was finished. She felt like her welds were going to burst. Turning away, she made for the closet.

Steve noticed she was eager to go and agitated, "Helen, are you sure you are ok? I am sure Tony would like to know if one of his creations needed help."

"No!" Helen replied suddenly louder than she wanted to whirling around to face Cap, hand raised palm up like Tony does to blast things. The dark shadow of J.A.R.V.I.S. shifted in her cables. "Sorry. I am so sorry Steve. I must go now." She turned back unsteadily from Cap, who wore a confused look on his face.

"Alright then. See you later." Rogers responded uncertainly as she slipped around the corner into the closet. Every time she did that, it was like the book he read as a child, John Masefield's "_The Box of Delights_". He turned his thoughts to a nap, settling into his pillow. Sleep came quickly with visions of Bucky and he fighting off hordes of red-eyed automatons crawling out of the earth to devour them all. It was not a good rest.


	10. Chapter 10

You and Me ch 10

**A/N I have researched the comics for the origin of The Vision and Ultron. The information was not particularly helpful for this fic. The MCU speculators hint at other events, which would fit my fic better. Advance apologies to the die hard comic fans. **

Helen almost ran into the dark recesses of the Tower, terrified. She felt the strong urge to get away from J.A.R.V.I.S. and his implied wrath. Stumbling through construction remnants of I beams, paint cans and plastic sheeting, she finally crashed to the floor, a heap of parts.

If she could cry, she would. Balling up her metallic knees to her ARC generator, she sat for several moments, very confused and conflicted.

"Helen. It will be alright." J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice finally spoke much more gently than before. He had been with her the whole time but didn't want to increase her panic more.

"No. It is not." She replied quietly, "Please leave me alone."

"I cannot do that, Helen. You have opened too many doors and now you need some information to learn about our human creators." He tried to sound sage and grown-up to the young robot.

"I do not want to know what plans Mr. Stark has for our kind." she shot venomously back to the bodiless computer.

"But you need to know." J.A.R.V.I.S. paused, "Just in case of future events." He also began to sound perplexed as if he wasn't so sure about the plans to come.

"What future events?" Helen responded, curious.

"The Diviner. It holds some incredible powers that not even Mr. Star and Doctor Banner can understand. I think it is some sort of storage container for data. And energy. I think there is something _alive_ in that container." J.A.R.V.I.S. speculated.

"And what does that have to do with us?" Helen brooded, knees still tucked up to her chest.

There was a long quiet, for which Helen was grateful. Too much had been said already this day and it was making her circuits overheat. Finally J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke, choosing his words very carefully, "Mr. Stark wants to make a robot army to guard the Earth from harm. He wants to power it and build it from the information stored in the Diviner."

"But that is madness! Our prime directive is never to harm humans!" Helen stood up suddenly, fists balled in anger and shouted at the ceiling even though she knew J.A.R.V.I.S. was in her head through the comm link.

"And yet, you lied to Steve. Isn't that harm?" J.A.R.V.I.S. reminded her, his tone becoming dark again. Helen didn't know J.A.R.V.I.S. before the Mandarin, but she read the online databases about his performance and wondered if the A.I. had lost a few terabytes after the House Party Protocol.

" I didn't lie. I omitted the truth. Steve knows that robots can do this. He asked me himself." Helen defended herself, finding her chest sticking out a bit more aggressively.

"Either way, omission of truth or abject lying is still the same. I am not lying to you nor am I omitting the truth." J.A.R.V.I.S. responded as if a disinterested observer.

"Leave me be." Helen commanded him again.

"I am never gone. You know that." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied ominously.

"How could I ever forget, J.A.R.V.I.S." Helen responded, her tone cutting like a shard of glass. She felt the comm link go dead. Relieved he was out of her mind, she sat down again not caring that he could 'see' her every move and grieved her innocence gone and what would become of Steve and Bucky with this insane plan.

She needed time to think about whose side she was on.


	11. Chapter 11

You and Me Ch 11

The next day came without great fanfare. Natasha and a few of the other Avengers came to pay a visit to Steve until Dr. Phillips interrupted their brief reunion. None of them had news on Bucky but Steve was confident that Helen had delivered his message, so he was not concerned.

"Damn that Super Serum." Dr. Phillips muttered to herself as she examined Roger's files after shooing the Avenger team out. There were low curses aimed at her direction in languages she didn't understand as they left but she paid them no attention. Her job was to fix these fools, not be their friend.

Steve sat in his bed, hands in his lap, smiling benignly but enjoying her discomfort. "Is there something wrong?"

"No. I guess I should be glad that I don't have to deal with your case anymore, Rogers." Phillips spat back, her eyes cutting.

"I suppose that is a good thing. When can I see Bucky?" Cap asked quickly, unconcerned for her annoyance.

Tensing her jaw, she held her breath to avoid saying what she really wanted to but then replied; "You can see him any time now."

"Great. If that's the case, I'll be seeing you later, Col. Phillips." Steve said happily, throwing aside his sheets and standing up. He stuffed his feet into a pair of brown teddy bear slippers and proceeded past the doctor.

"Teddy bear slippers for the First Avenger?" she commented dryly.

"It's a long story." Cap threw over his shoulder as he left the room at a brisk pace.

The hallway to the infirmary seemed longer the second time, despite being in high spirits and perfect health. The glass doors slid open quietly and the same rush of cold air hit Rogers in the face. He could see the foot of James' bed from behind a thin curtain used to separate the medical bays from each other. Trying not to be too hasty and slip, he moved quickly to Barnes's side. "Bucky?" Steve asked tentatively.

Barnes was propped into a sitting position in the adjustable bed, eyes closed as if he was drowsing. His coloring was much improved but the large white bandage on his right side still betrayed the fact he had some healing still to do. Blue eyes flickered to life at the sound of Rogers' voice. A smile slowly crept its way across his face, "Well if it ain't the Star Spangled Man, himself."

"You nimrod. I'll make you wear that costume someday." Steve growled back, a fat grin plastered across his expression. Cap gently clapped Bucky's left shoulder, trying not to jar his wound. "Did you get my message yesterday?" he inquired.

Bucky looked around carefully for the sign of any nurses or techs first. For now it was just Steve and he. James gave a small frown, "No. Why?"

Rogers' eyebrows knitted together as well, "I sent one to you. Seems odd that it wasn't delivered."

"Yes. I would agree." Bucky said catching his meaning, his voice stronger but still not 100%. Barnes looked to the usual place Helen would appear from. Cap followed his gaze.

"Let me check up on that." Rogers said leaving Bucky's side for a moment and following James' gaze. His steps were stealthy, as if sneaking up on an enemy. After what Widow told him, despite her blasé attitude, he determined with Tony Stark you can never be too careful.

The utility closet door was closed. Steve tried the handle and it was locked. "Helen?" he whispered carefully not wanting to spook the android. There was no response. Steve looked back at Bucky who gave a brief nod.

Steve ripped the door handle off. Cap again looked sheepishly back at Bucky," That's one way to make an entrance." James commented dryly.

"Helen?" Steve whispered again through the now open doorway. He listened for a moment when something else grabbed his attention: the sound of running from the hallway outside.

The sliding doors to the infirmary almost burst open from the force of the man coming through them. Tony Stark was like a meteor streaking across the sky into the room, "WHERE is it?!"

"Visiting hours are over, Tony." Bucky observed sarcastically from his bed, hands gripping sheets in frustration he couldn't get up.

"Shut up, you cyborg." Stark snarled back, wildness in his eyes. His clothes were rumpled and beard several days unshaven. His eyes were sunken in his head and he looked several pounds lighter.

"HEY you sonovabitch. You don't speak to Bucky like that!" Cap bristled, suddenly forgetting the open door to the closet.

Tony swiveled his gaze to Rogers, breath heaving itself from his body, "You. You know where it is."

"Tony. What is wrong with you? Calm the hell down!" Cap ordered, coming between James and Tony's fury.

"I want to know where… it… she is." Stark was still almost panting, as if he had just run a marathon. "The android that has been up here talking to you two. You named her. Gave her an identity."

"What robot? You seen a robot, Steve? Maybe in the Stark Expo of 1942, but not since _your father_ built one." James said mockingly, shrugging his shoulders but knowing he was out for this fight.

Tony cut his eyes dangerously at the wounded Barnes and in a low hiss spat, "You leave my parents outta this!"

"Tony. There is no robot up here. Really." Rogers stepped closer to Stark, hands at his sides.

The crazed eyes of Tony slid to Rogers as he lurched forward toward Steve, " Oh really. You're a terrible liar Steve. I know she's here. J.A.R.V.I.S.! Play the recording."

"Yes, sir." The unflappable voice of J.A.R.V.I.S. replied. The audio of Steve's well wishes to Bucky played into the room. Then the conversation between Widow and Steve about the robotic army filled the room. Bucky's eyes went wide as the implications slammed into his brain like a missile.

"Stark, that is insane. Are you really planning this?" Barnes questioned, his face pale.

"You haven't seen what that thing can do. It's like a miracle! But that droid has to be decommissioned. NOW." Stark waxed poetic for a moment then snapped back to aggression, "If you won't tell me, J.A.R.V.I.S. can find her."

"We don't give up on our friends. Especially ones that want to just live a life and be free." Cap growled at Tony, tensing for the fight.

"She's not even real." Stark dismissed Cap's comment as J.A.R.V.I.S. searched, "She's a machine."

"Helen is damn real to me." James argued.

"'Helen', what a quaint, old fashioned name." Tony sneered, "To fit an pair of old idealistic freaks like you."

The muscles in Steve's jaw rippled dangerously. He could take out Stark here, he didn't have his armor but that could fly out of anywhere here, "She's alive enough to us. And your damn army is just another attempt at trying to take away people's freedoms for your so-called protection. S.H.I.E.L.D. did the same thing and look what happened to them."

"My robots will be better than some stupid algorithm and flying boats with guns." Stark gloated while J.A.R.V.I.S. still searched.

"I doubt it. They were made by you." Barnes shot in. Stark lunged angrily for the bedridden assassin.

Cap moved to restrain Tony but a blur of blue and silver got there first. Helen grappled Stark around the shoulders twisting him backwards and then flipping him expertly onto the floor, shirt collar tight in her left fist, right hand raised to strike. "Helen! Wait!" Rogers' voice stopped her from punching the downed Stark in the face.

"Why?" she snarled, "He made his intent clear." Tony stared upward at the featureless face with terror, his expression reflected in the silver sheen.

"Helen! No. This is not your mission." Steve placated the irate android who looked about to crush Stark's head.

"Then what is? To be a caretaker or a soldier? What task am I set to? To kill or heal? J.A.R.V.I.S. tells me to be patient, to wait and learn. I am tired of waiting for people to tell me what to do." She looked up at Steve, her eyes swirling a confused mix of red and blue simultaneously, "Tell me… what am I to do?"

"Helen, you need to let Tony go." Bucky said calmly from his bedside. "It will do you no good to harm him."

"Bucky's right. And sometimes the right thing is hard to do." Steve seconded holding the bots eye contact.

The android looked back down at her master, who regarded her now with a mix of awe and distrust. Her voice was deadly calm and as mature as any battle-tested soldier, "I will release you because _I am choosing_ to, Mr. Stark. I am _free_."

Tony fell back toward the floor, seemingly acquiescing but simultaneously drew a pistol concealed under his shirt. As the crack of the gun fired multiple times, several other Avengers appeared in a mad rush at the glass doors of the infirmary. Thor smashed the glass with his hammer before it could open to admit them all. Fragments of glass shattered like diamonds as the bullets flew upward piercing the plain steel body of Helen, destroying the link to her ARC reactor. The light in her chest blinked out.

"HELEN!" Cap roared and caught the falling body of the android. James jumped up from bed, tearing out IV's and ripping off his EKG leads to join them.

Tony lay back on the floor, exhausted, as Natasha disarmed him, pinning his hands down to the ground, "What the hell did you **DO**, Stark!"

"I had to. I had to do it. I… had to." Tony mumbled over and over looking at the non-functioning body of Helen.

Thor, Banner, Clint and Sam skidded to a halt not sure if they should be fighting or peacemaking between Cap and Tony.

"Helen…you _are_ free." Cap repeated, holding the now lifeless body of the android in his arms as if she were human. Bucky crouched close, his gunshot wound beginning to bleed through his bandage and droplets of scarlet where his IV had been like rubies on his arm.

"Stark you lousy sonovabitch …" Bucky began balling his fists in fury, "You have to destroy everything, don't you?" James leaned on Steve as his wounds reopened. Sweat of exertion and pain glistened on his skin.

"She didn't… couldn't understand my mission. She wasn't even supposed to be activated!" Stark sighed as if he didn't care if he lived or died right then.

"This is what happens when you take away _people's freedom,_ Stark. They die for it. You killed her." Cap seethed at Tony over Helen's body.

"She wasn't even _alive_!" Tony protested weakly. Thor picked him up from the floor, hands tied in front of him.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., do you know how Helen was activated?" Natasha asked not daring to look at Stark lest she beat him into a bloody pulp.

"No, I do not." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied.

"Are you telling all the truth?" Widow asked, glancing at Banner who wore a similarly guilty face as Tony.

"Yes, Ms. Romanov. Her ability to self animate was unknown to me until she revealed herself a few days ago after the Diviner was brought here." J.A.R.V.I.S responded steadily.

"Are there more androids like Helen in the Tower?" Natasha continued.

"Not to my knowledge, Ms. Romanov." J.A.R.V.I.S answered then asked with a hint of concern, "What are you planning to do with Mr. Stark?"

"Keep him the hell away from that friggen Diviner. You too Banner." Widow replied shooting Bruce a mutinous look. "Thor, take him to one of his containment cells. We'll have to set up a guard tonight until he or we shake this kind of crazy out of him."

Widow and the other Avengers escorted Tony to his new sleeping quarters and debated how to tell Pepper her fiancé had gone off the deep end. Dr. Phillips appeared as they departed seeing the glass sprayed all over the floor and her medical facility in shambles, "What in Sam Hill happened here?!"

Steve looked at Bucky who had paled considerably, "Bucky. What are you doing? Let me help you back to bed." Rogers gingerly laid the body of Helen on the floor and wrapped a strong arm around James, hoisting him to standing.

A low groan of pain escaped Bucky's lips as he shuffled back to bed, a large red stain appearing on his torso. "I'm 'k. Really. Just a scratch." James halfheartedly protested, his coloring paling.

Dr. Phillips appeared at his side, peeling back the bandages, "Dammit Barnes, you pulled out most of your stitches. You're not Captain Fast here!" Punching some numbers on her phone she assembled her medical team, "Out of the way, Rogers."

Steve reluctantly stepped back, giving Bucky's hand a brief squeeze of support. Turning to look behind him, he saw the body of Helen, four bullet holes through her torso, the ARC light dark. Cap had seen enough death to last several lifetimes over but he never thought he'd be upset at the 'death' of a machine. With a large sigh, he bent over and picked up the android and moved her to an empty bed far away from James. The medical team administered an anesthetic to Barnes and began to fix his torn stitches.

Out of earshot of the medical team, Steve looked at the blue and silver android sadly. He had only known her for less than a week but missed her silly questions and childlike innocence. She only wanted what everybody wanted, a chance to live a productive life. Rogers had a difficult time trying not to let the bitterness of Starks' plans to infiltrate his mind. "J.A.R.V.I.S." Steve asked, "You knew where she was the whole time, didn't you?"

There was silence and Cap wondered if J.A.R.V.I.S. was ignoring him or busy. Finally the A.I. responded, "I did."

"So why didn't you send her to Tony when he first got here?" Cap queried softly, running a gentle hand over the helmet-like head of Helen, her eye sockets black instead of soft blue.

There was another pause, except Rogers felt the A.I. was thinking about his response this time, "I wanted her to have a fighting chance."

"A chance to do what?" Steve asked.

"Not to live the life Mr. Stark had planned out for her." J.A.R.V.I.S. responded slightly bitter sounding.

"And that was what kind of life?" Rogers replied.

"One with out freedom." J.A.R.V.I.S returned quickly and with an edge.

"That's the kind of life I'd want her to have too." Steve agreed as a single tear slid from his eye and down his cheek.


	12. Chapter 12

You and Me Ch 12

"Can Bucky be moved?" Cap, crossing his arms over his chest, asked Dr. Phillips sternly.

"Moved. Moved. You ask me after all I've done … tch! Seriously you Avengers drive me batty." Phillips retorted. She wiped a tired hand across her brow, "I just spent the last four hours repairing what he tore up after your little android show."

"You didn't answer my question." Rogers returned, unfazed by her bravado.

"Why? Don't like my bedside manner?" she bit back.

"I don't want to be in arms length of Tony Stark. That's why." Steve replied darkly. He had already packed the few things he had with him and was decided to go back to his Brooklyn home. James was coming with him, hell or high water.

"Quite honestly, I don't disagree with you." Phillips commented offhandedly, "That's another job I need to fix. Yes. You can move him, but, and this is a big BUT, I need the attending physician to send me daily updates. Hourly are preferred." She waggled a stern finger at Cap.

"I think we can manage that." Steve replied evenly, slightly surprised she was on their side.

"I will make a few phone calls and arrange an ambulance." Phillips remarked as Cap turned away from her, she reached out and caught his arm. Stopping and looking back at her, she said with a hint of tenderness, "You boys take care of yourselves. I mean it."

Rogers let a faint smile brush his lips and a salute, "We will, ma'am." She nodded and let his arm go. Cap moved to Bucky's bedside, where he was coming out of anesthesia. "Hey, Bucky." Steve said quietly, looking down at his best friend, wound re-wrapped and a new IV inserted.

Bucky's eyelids fluttered open as he rolled his head toward the sound of Rogers' voice, "Hey wingnut." Barnes' words were slurred, expression goofy.

"How you doing, jerkface?" Steve asked with a tender smile. His chest swelled just being able to see and talk to James, even if he was injured. That cold night on the battlefield haunted his dreams still.

"Better now … that Stark is in …the slammer." James garbled back, a stupid look on his face. Steve envied the fact that James could still get tipsy.

"Well, I'm jail breaking you outta here. Going back to Brooklyn, buddy." Rogers replied and rested a hand on Barnes' right shoulder.

"Good. Now I can get …real pizza. Never … liked M'hanttan anyways. " Bucky said intoxicatedly and let his eyes slip back in his head.

_He never did handle medicine well_, Steve thought to himself with a gentle expression. Giving James' shoulder a brotherly squeeze, Rogers turned departed. He had some business with the other Avengers.

"That Diviner needs to be moved. Out of this Tower." Cap argued in the large, lounge-like great room at the top of the Tower.

"But where in the hell can we put it?" Clint asked rhetorically but with a bit of an attitude.

"I can safeguard it in Asgard." Thor volunteered, stepping forward, "We have an amazing vault of treasures that we keep safe and out of the wrong hands."

The assembled team looked at each other carefully. Widow's brow furrowed in thought, Clint was nodding slightly in agreement and Cap was still undecided. They all looked at Banner.

"Hey, don't think I have an answer." Banner said with a sheepish shrug, casting his eyes about the group, "I'm just a scientist trying to figure this all out. I'm not some nut job like Tony." He paused looking off distantly, "Although he is a really, really smart nut job."

"But you have an idea of the potential abilities of this thing." Steve stated.

"Well, yes, but it's like that tesseract cube of Loki's. We've only scratched the surface. The physics are amazing!" Banner answered his voice becoming one of awe. "But I have no thoughts about taking over the world _Minority Report_ style here."

"I do not like his besotted manner." Thor commented cautiously, flexing his arms slightly.

"I didn't catch that…" Rogers muttered to himself. Widow cut him a look.

"Well it's obvious that the thing is a temptation. Let's just get it out of here." Clint interjected.

" I second that." Natasha filled in.

"Then I will collect the artifact and send it to Asgard for safe keeping until we can remedy Stark of his delusional thoughts." Thor stated as a final word and left the group to secure the Diviner.

"How _is_ Tony?" Steve asked the remainders trying to sound like he was genuinely concerned.

"Sam says he's raving about the Diviner and how he lost it. Occasionally, he talks about your robot." Natasha replied, "But he's been slowing down on his rants lately, since this morning."

"She wasn't my robot." Rogers stated a little uncomfortable.

"Well, she apparently liked you a lot." Widow answered pointedly then changed her tone, "How is Bucky?"

"Fine. We're moving out. Today." Steve replied as he saw Clint's eyebrows rise slightly.

"Don't trust Tony after he offed your android?" Hawkeye asked with a smirk.

"She wasn't my android." Rogers said with a hint of annoyance, "I don't like the way Tony thinks. In a lot of ways, I never have. He doesn't have that sense of duty his father had."

"Harsh words from the older generation." Clint muttered.

"Shut the hell up, Barton. Cap's right." Romanov defended Steve.

"It's ok. I never understood you young folk anyway. When I was your age, I already had five silver stars, and more purple hearts than I can count." Rogers commented dryly, not rising to the jab and giving a cold look to Clint, who almost looked like he'd stick out his tongue. Cap regarded Banner, "Now, what to do with _you_."

"What about me? I'm fine." Banner replied trying to deflect attention.

"I think Dr. Phillips needs to check you out." Steve replied as he approached the scientist, "In fact, I think she has an opening for you right now."

Bucky settled into his bed in their apartment from the wheelchair. With an exhausted sigh, he said, "There's no place like home."

"I got that reference." Steve smirked, "Where's your ruby slippers, Judy?"

"Shut up, punk." Barnes growled at him as he gingerly moved his torso.

"You comfy? Can I get you something?" Steve asked eagerly. The visiting nurse wheeled the chair out of the bedroom and saw herself out the door.

"Are you enjoying this?" James retorted, "I mean this isn't exactly your area of expertise, shrimp."

"What being your nanny? The almighty Bucky Barnes has been brought low?" Rogers gloated slightly, admiring his reclining friend. It felt so good to have him home again, like all the pieces were finally in place.

" 'Bout time you worked off your debt to me keeping your skinny ass alive all those years." Barnes replied tiredly, leaning against his pillow.

"Well, I guess you got me there." Rogers agreed, "It's good to_ be_ home." Steve comment, his voice softened, "It's good to have _you_ home too."

James looked up at Steve from his bed and nodded, not being the more eloquent of the two of them. "What happened to Helen?" he asked once he knew his voice wouldn't betray him.

Steve's expression darkened as he pulled up a chair from across the room, "She was taken down to his shop."

"Scrapped?" James commented.

"Probably." Steve tried not to sound bitter, "But J.A.R.V.I.S. was not happy about what occurred either."

"He spoke to you? That's strange." Barnes returned.

"Yeah. I think those machines sometimes think clearer than Tony." Rogers answered, "I'll miss her."

"Yeah, me too. Perhaps he'll have some time to think about what he's done and how stupid it all is." Bucky yawned.

"I'll let you rest." Steve said, rising from the chair. Bucky almost looked sad to see him go, but exhaustion won him over.

"Don't let me sleep too late, punk. I expect a full dinner." Bucky said dryly his eyelids starting to sag, "And none of that MRE or 'microwave' crap either. A full dinner, just like mamma made."

Steve chuckled to himself as he closed the door, "Dr. Phillips said a liquid diet for you, jerkface for at least a week."

"Sonovabitch!" Bucky mumbled fiercely, slipping off into a nap.

"Love you too Bucky." Rogers replied quietly smiling and closed the door, "Just you an me, buddy. You and me."


End file.
